Update for Let's Be Open Contest - Suzanne Delaney's Blog

Hello Everyone:
All the entries are in so this weekend I was going to  start the judging for my contest.
I usually don't  read any poems until I start the judging. However I have looked on the page that lists them all for a quick skim and a lot of poems won't qualify because they are written in Free Verse or Rhyme but not  open couplets.
Please review your entries against the instructions and study the example given.
Open Couplets  have a rhyme at the end but the thought runs on (enjambment)

It can be on any subject.  The title of my Contest was a play on Open Couplets not a subject.

Please review the rules again, that I will repost here,  then  go and make your corrections.
I will give you another week.
Thanks for choosing my competition.  I do want to be fair.

What to Submit?

1 original, poem on the theme of ............. Any Subject

Only Acceptable Form- Must be written with Open Couplets.

These are different from heroic couplets where the end of the line completes a thought.

Looking for Enjambment here. Meaning flows as the lines progress, and the reader’s eye is forced to go on to the next sentence.

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink.
Nor do we merely feel these essences
For one short hour; no, even as the trees
That whisper round a temple become soon
Dear as the temple's self, so does the moon,
The passion poesy, glories infinite
Haunt us till they become a cheering light
Unto our souls, and bound to us so fast,
That, whether there be shine, or gloom o'ercast,
They alway must be with us, or we die.

This poem provides an example of the use of open couplets.

ENDYMION, BOOK I

\John Keats 1884

Openening Verses

http://www.bartleby.com/126/32.html

See the whole poem on the link above

Prizes

First Prize, Glory
Second Prize, Glory
Third Prize, Glory
Twelve Honorable Mentions

Preparing Your Entry

Submit one copy of your poem online. Format your poem. Please make your entry easy to read — no illustrations or fancy fonts.

English Language

Poems should be in English. Poems translated from other languages are not eligible, unless you wrote both the original poem and the translation.

A Note to Poetry Contestants

You are welcome to enter this contest, whether or not you won a prize in one of my previous contests.

Seren Roberts Date: 7/21/2013 2:05:00 AM omg I hope I did mine ok, otherwise i am lost lol. All these terminologies make my brain go duhhh Login to Reply Suzanne Delaney Date: 7/21/2013 9:06:00 PM Hi Seren I am judging blind so won't know whose poems they are until I finalize the contest. I think it is good to try and stretch your writing talents occasionally. My next contest will be an easier one. Check out my blog on Prayer Hands when you can.

Andrea Dietrich Date: 7/20/2013 8:31:00 AM 'by the way, I think I know why there could be confusion for people who do not know what you mean when you say rhyming couplets. They may have seen your example and not realized it consisted of couplets because none of the lines are divided into couplet stanzas. Also enjambment is difficult for some people and also the idea of iambic pentameter. (well, I interpreted the meaning of open couplets to include iambic pentameter) Maybe eight syllable lines are also acceptable? I hope a few people will read your blog. Unfortunately, Suz, the people we try to warn with our blogs are the ones who never come here to see our concerns. Good luck with your contest. Luv, Andrea Login to Reply

Andrea Dietrich Date: 7/20/2013 8:26:00 AM what Debbie says here is right. I emphasized again the rules of my contest Show me the Funny, and still I had several entries with no names of my contest on them and people sending in more long poems than short ones. The one good thing this serves is that it makes my decision making process very simple. as of now, I do not have enough poems to do a top ten list and I am almost at the end of my contest!!! Login to Reply Suzanne Delaney Date: 7/20/2013 11:21:00 AM Another good point, Andrea ...and thanks for your input it means much. Yes, if the rules aren't met even after being reitererated, it means less poems to judge and an easier descision on the qualifying poems.

Debbie Guzzi Date: 7/20/2013 6:39:00 AM For your contest the enjambment was what was difficult, I hope it didn't need to be in every line! Login to Reply Suzanne Delaney Date: 7/20/2013 11:22:00 AM Debbie, I din't think neccesary for evey line but open couplets was the exercise I hoped to bring out. Cheers Suz

Debbie Guzzi Date: 7/20/2013 6:38:00 AM You are very kind and nice, I have been doing this since hmmm 2008 I think and even if you contacted the poets individually not every one would make the effort to change. Over the years you get to know that except for a hand full of folks [hmmm I should keep an actual list! no in my head the head doesn't work as well as it did :(] they won't make changes. Still I like you try, I leave a message in their comments this is lovely but the wrong form for the contest. Login to Reply